


haunt

by traumaa



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Brothels, F/F, Friends to Lovers, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22763539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traumaa/pseuds/traumaa
Summary: Where's a seventeen year old queer boy supposed to go in 1899?
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Sarah Jacobs/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer, Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 10
Kudos: 62





	haunt

**Author's Note:**

> i'm posting this hoping i'll get motivated to write more. also yes, this is the prostitute au no one asked for.

It all happened faster than Davey had expected. One moment he was doing schoolwork alone in his room, the next his sister was barreling in and frantically stuffing a bag with clothes and various other belongings. Davey's belongings. 

"Sarah?" He stood up, taking hold of her arm. "What are you doing?" She looked up at him and swallowed thickly. She looked like she might burst into tears. 

"You have to leave," she whispered. The urgency clear in her voice.

"What? Why?" 

"Les," Sarah pulled open the bottom drawer of the tallboy in the corner and grabbed what little money they had saved, putting it in the bag and tying it up. She then turned to her brother and gently took his hands.

"He told dad about what he saw."

Davey's stomach went cold. Sarah instantly launched into an apology. 

"Don't blame him, please, he's barely ten, he doesn't-" Davey cut her off by pulling her into a tight hug, she sobbed into his chest. Next thing there was banging on the door and Davey was being unceremoniously shoved out of the window. The bag came soon after and he heard Sarah bolt the window. The last piece of home he saw was his sister mouthing her goodbyes through the glass. All he could do was hurry out of sight. 

Davey felt empty. He climbed halfway down the fire escape just to sit there and think. Where was a seventeen year old queer boy supposed to go in 1899? He tried to remember any sort of place he could turn to, he'd need to think of an excuse other than 'I'm messed up in the head,' as to why he was kicked out. His mind was too scrambled to come up with anything, though. 

He supposed he should see what Sarah had left him with. Opening the bag greeted him with a dollar twenty. That made him feel a little better, a lot better. He wouldn't starve today. Still, it wasn't much, there had to be something he could sell. 

Twenty minutes and a few tears later, Davey had split his stuff into two groups; what to sell, and what to keep. He found his mother's gold earrings in one of his socks, Sarah was going to be crucified for that. Davey swung his pack over his shoulder and headed for the pawn shop.

The pawnbroker was a high and mighty old man with a beard that was horribly wiry. He kept glaring at Davey over the counter, as if he thought he might try stealing something. He made a huge fuss over the earrings. Asking him where he got them and blatantly accusing him of trying to sell fool's gold. Eventually, after much deliberation, the pawnbroker decided six dollars was a fair price. Davey would have taken two. He stashed the money in his pocket before the old man could change his mind. 

It had been late in the afternoon when Davey had been abruptly banished from his home, and the pawnbroker had taken so long that the sun was slipping below the horizon when he left the shop. He had to find a place to sleep, quickly. The fire escape came to mind. Sure, it was gonna be cold and the wind was stronger up there, but he guessed it would be safer than some grocery store doorway. 

Safety aside, sleep didn't come easy; Davey hadn't realized just how dark and cold it could get. If he was home, he would have lit a candle and read by it until the sun came up. He leaned back on his bag. He never thought he would miss his rickety old bed, but sharing a room with Les and Sarah seemed like a luxury now. 

He glanced up at the sky, this was the closest he'd ever been to the stars. Someone else might have drawn happiness from that fact, but Davey was never one for astronomy. Instead, he occupied himself by stacking his coins up in front of him. seven dollars twenty. He found himself wishing he'd paid attention to his father's ramblings of rent prices. He shoved the money in his pocket for safe keeping and turned over. His fingers were just starting to go numb when sleep took him.

*

Davey was awoken by the sound of his name.

"Sarah?" He rubbed his bleary eyes. It was Katherine.

"What? No," Katherine gave him a once over. "You look awful, did you sleep out here?"

"Yeah, got kicked out, Les told my father about... things." Katherine and Sarah were the only people in the world who Davey had trusted enough to confide in, she knew he was queer, and also that he didn't like to say it out loud. "Anyway, I'm gonna try and find a job today," Davey felt like he should keep up some pretence of optimism. Katherine wasn't fooled. 

"why are you here?" He tried instead. He stretched while he waited for her to answer, his body had never felt so stiff. 

"I'm here to see Sarah," she didn't elaborate and so Davey didn't ask. He didn't need the details. A silence laced with tension followed. 

"Meet me in the square around six, okay? I know a place that'll put a roof over your head if you can't find anywhere else." Katherine offered him a soft smile and continued on her way to Sarah's bedroom window. Weird, Davey thought, though he wouldn't dare say it out loud. 

"See ya later," David mumbled. She was already too far to hear him. 

Alright, job hunting. 

There wasn't much he could do about his appearance. All he could do was run a hand through his hair, wash his face at the fountain in the square and hope that his usual socially awkward demeanor would take a day off. 

He had started the day with high hopes, he would find a job and a place to live. Easy. It was just his future coming a year earlier, with less promise of college, and probably a lower chance of success. Wonderful.

Unfortunately, Davey quickly discovered that the sight of a teenager wearing clearly slept in clothes and carrying a bag on his back was quite a large red flag to an employer. 

He had assured each one, and himself, that it was no trouble at all and he wouldn't give up hope, but even with this mindset, after every 'try somewhere else, kid', Davey could feel his spirits dampening until he was sitting on the edge of the fountain with his head in his hands, waiting for Katherine. He was feeling dejected and a little ashamed, he'd even wasted money on a cap in an attempt to hide his face from people who might recognize him. 

"Hey, Davey," Katherine's cheery voice broke him from his reverie. "Any luck?"

He shook his head. She squeezed his shoulder softly. The sympathy made him feel sick, his family had never been well off, but they'd never been looked down on. 

"Hold your head up, I know a place," Katherine held out her hand to help him up. He followed her through town, not unlike a lost child. 

He was only half listening to her ramblings about how she would let him stay with her, but her father would probably make them get married, she needed to socialize with more 'potential suitors', apparently. Davey had a sneaking suspicion that her only suitor was Sarah, and after that revelation he zoned out.

They were turning down a side street when Davey began to have concerns about where Katherine was taking him. He hadn't questioned her up to this point because, well, he trusted her, but he couldn't help but wonder what kind of place would take in a random boy on such short notice. Would he have to pay? He didn't have the money, and he would be damned if he took charity from Katherine. Surely she knew that... 

His questions weren't answered when Katherine stopped abruptly in front of a nondescript doorway and knocked three times. A slate in the door opened and a man grunted out a 'password'. Katherine sighed. 

"Tell Mrs. Medda it's Katherine Plumber."

The man rolled his eyes, closed the slate and a few moments later the door opened. Katherine grabbed Davey's hand and lead him inside. 

Davey was speechless. It was ... well, he wasn't sure what it was. The lights were dim and the place was packed with people. He could see two virtually naked girls singing and dancing on a stage. They looked barely older than him. Katherine didn't seem bothered by any of this and pressed on through the crowd until they got to what Davey assumed was a bar - he'd never seen one before. There was a scantily clad boy leaning against the counter and chatting up an older man. 

"Race!" Katherine had to raise her voice to be heard over the crowd. The boy's head jerked up and he abandoned the conversation immediately, much to the older man's dismay. 

"Katherine!" He beamed and threw his arms around her. "Where've you been?" The boy - Race spoke with a thick Manhattan accent. Davey's brain was too busy short circuiting to keep up with their pleasantries and he looked around the building with wide eyes. He resembled a he would have probably stayed like that forever if Katherine hadn't yelled his name into his ear. 

"This is Race, he'll take care of you," She gave him an apologetic smile. "I've already missed my curfew, goodbye, Davey." She disappeared back into the crowd, leaving Davey to try to remember how to speak English. He turned to Race, only to find him eyeing him up.

"Can't have ya lookin' like that," Despite being shorter, he put his arm around Davey's shoulders and lead him through the crowd to a door by the stage. Once they were on the other side of said door, the overwhelming noise of the crowd faded, Race let go of him and he felt like he could breathe again. Davey followed Race down a narrow hallway and up two flights of stairs to a dormitory of sorts. The room had a high ceiling and was filled with bunk beds. 

"Work hard enough and maybe you'll get your own place, for now sleep here," Race grabbed his bag and started looking through it. Davey stood beside him, wringing his hands nervously. 

"This may sound stupid, but what is this place?" He had finally worked up the nerve to speak. Race looked at him in a way that confirmed his suspicions, his question was idiotic. 

"Whorehouse, brothel, whatever."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! i'm hoping to update this semi regularly


End file.
